Folks, it’s no secret that Dale Earnhardt Jr. owns a wide network of podcasts under the ‘Dirty Mo Media’ brand. And each has their own identity. ‘Dale Jr Download’ broadcasts Junior having a chat with industry veterans and bringing in the nostalgia; While ‘Door Bumper Clear’ interacts with NASCAR spotters, giving out the inside scoop from on-track incidents.
Other veterans of the sport have their podcasts where they talk about similar things. This includes Kevin Harvick’s “Happy Hour“, Denny Hamlin’s “Actions Detrimental”, Michael Waltrip’s “Waltrip Unfiltered” and Mike Wallace’s “Fast Car 2 NASCAR” among many more. While Junior’s brand has been on the forefront of such podcasts, it has started to lose its audience. And the reason is quite uncanny.
The show has lost its most controversial voice, the man who thought Justin Haley (who finished P2) should have dumped the 2023 Chicago Street race winner Shane van Gisbergen when he had the chance. Well, there is hardly anything that Brett Griffin says that isn’t controversial. But still, his sudden exit from DBC raised some questions. Then even TJ Majors left! But we might have some answers now.
So, in November last year, Brett Griffin wrote on X, “Thank you, listeners. I’ve had a blast on this journey and my goal was simple – share the knowledge and experiences I’ve had during my career. Let’s laugh and learn as we go and we did just that. Ep 355 was my last.” And this surprised many, including Griffin haters. He was nonchalant, but some fans liked the rawness. And to be honest, Griffin’s take on things did make the show enjoyable. But the sudden exit sparked a debate about what went down at DBC. And maybe Freddie Kraft had something to do with it.
Did Freddie Kraft and Brett Griffin not get along?
The original DBC lineup had Bubba Wallace’s spotter Freddie Kraft, along with Griffin, who occasionally spots for different teams as he did for Austin Dillon in Michigan last season. And finally, TJ Majors, who is Brad Keselowski’s spotter. Now this was a trio who had all the inside scoop from the NASCAR garages…as they were part of the race where controversial incidents took place. And naturally, fans loved listening to that perspective. But the new DBC lineup has only Freddie Kraft returning with two new panelists.
One is Tommy Baldwin, who was the crew chief when Ward Burton won the Daytona 500 in 2002. And the second is Karsyn Elledge. Elledge played a part-time role in DBC in 2024, but now she seems to have bagged a full-time seat. For folks who don’t know, Karsyn is also Dale Jr.’s niece (Kelly’s daughter). And well, Baldwin might be the new Brett Griffin, but this lineup is nowhere close to the old one that made the show what it was since starting in 2016. However, that is a whole other debate, here we are discussing the reasons for the change. And recently there’s been a Reddit discussion on whether Brett Griffin had a falling out with Freddie Kraft?
Well, on the show’s every other episode, the three rattled each other’s chains. Like how Griffin called out Freddie on the whole Martinsville race manipulation incident. The #23 car deliberately allowed Christopher Bell to pass at the last stretch. A move intended towards helping him qualify for the Championship 4. Kraft was even suspended for the last race of the season. And Griffin had felt that the #23 team’s penalty ($200,000 fine, crew chief and spotter suspension) wasn’t harsh enough. Maybe that made Kraft mad. But that’s unlikely since Griffin’s whole persona on the show is being brutally honest. And Kraft knew from the beginning who he was getting in with at DBC.
Maybe something happened with their business venture, Couch Racer. Remember when in 2022, Kraft said, “I’m in the process of getting a fun new business venture called Couch Racer up and running with my buddy Brett Griffin. Lots of fun stuff is coming in 2022 and I’m looking forward to talking about it all here with you guys and gals.” Couch Racer is basically a NASCAR-related merchandise-selling website. Although nothing is yet confirmed, probably something caused a rift here, and it affected their relationship. Anyway, a few fans had some guesses on the whole matter.
Fans think Freddie Kraft was the reason!
The whole ordeal is not clear yet. But something is off. After the new lineup for DBC was announced…track announcer William Richard got curious about the reasons for the change. He asked on X, “@FreddieKraft I know there are things you probably can’t address, but I think I speak for everyone when I say that we still sorta want to know what happened. Why did Brett & TJ have or choose to leave? Hopefully, this can be addressed.” And Kraft wasn’t clear with his answer, he replied, “Only they can speak to why they are no longer on the show. I wouldn’t want to speak for either of them. Not my place.”
And with Freddie being the only of the three returning, there were some speculations of Kraft’s involvement. In fact, one fan thinks, “I think so, Freddie doesn’t seem to be connected to the couch racer brand anymore.” Well, if you see the current X posts of Race Shop, it clearly sounds like Griffin typing those. When Kathrine Legge wasn’t having a good day at Phoenix, the account posted, “The irony of “second spin” of the day in her debut taking out a car from an origination that also had a “gifted” driver in the race a few weeks ago that didn’t actually qualify. Do racing Gods exist?” Maybe it’s only Griffin running Couch Racer now, with Freddie out.
And fans are somewhat convinced that something went down between Kraft and Griffin. One fan echoing the same emotion wrote, “I believe there might be some truth to that.” And clearly, with Kraft being the only one to return to the panel…he’s got some pull at Dirty Mo Media. Even Dale Jr. hasn’t commented on the whole debacle…something has happened! Anyway, with Griffin and Kraft out, fans don’t think DBC will be the same. One fan wrote, “I like the new show; I liked the old show. They are definitely different. I miss Brett for sure. We may never know the whole story”
Well, Dirty Mo Media is doing all it can to have the same feel at DBC as before. Look at their recent X post as they released a trailer for the new show, “Who’s got the balls to join @FreddieKraft on DBC? We found a pair.” But no one is buying it! Another fan wrote, “The new version of the show is fine, but I doubt it will ever push the envelope or be edgy.”
And Kraft might be refusing to comment, but we know he’s the one who can spill the beans on the whole thing. And one fan wants him to do it on the same Reddit chat this whole discussion is happening on. The fan wrote, “Not that I don’t wanna see what a certain spotter who’s on Reddit might say…” What do you think was the reason behind DBC needing a whole new panel? Share your thoughts with us in the comments down below.
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